Mia Farrow hearts the Torch. The Cadre winks. This is Jane Fonda? No. The Woody Allen one. Cadre orders rentals.

The Cadre considers that this is getting worse. Hollywood. Who is next? Many suppose the trouble starts when Brad Pitt shows. No. That Hollywood director. The one who quit us? Spielberg? Is Farrow from Spielberg?

Mia Farrow enters Hong Kong to protest China-Sudan ties

YouNewsTV™
Story Published: May 1, 2008 at 11:44 AM PDT
By MIN LEE, AP Entertainment Writer
HONG KONG (AP) - Actress Mia Farrow was briefly questioned at Hong Kong's airport Thursday before officials allowed her to enter the Chinese territory to give a speech criticizing China's relations with Sudan.

Farrow's entry to Hong Kong is seen as one indication of how free the city will be while hosting the torch. Officials here are under great pressure from Beijing to ensure a trouble-free relay, after protests have disrupted the run on several of its international stops.

To help ensure the relay goes smoothly, Hong Kong authorities deported several pro-Tibet protesters and rights activists in the past week.

Officials didn't immediately stamp Farrow's passport because they were concerned she might cause problems during the event, the actress said.

"They wanted some reassurance that we were not here to disrupt the torch relay, which of course we are not," Farrow said.

Blocking Farrow from entering Hong Kong would have sparked a firestorm of criticism as China is already taking heat for a recent crackdown on riots in Tibet. But allowing her into the city may attract attention away from the torch relay, which has been disrupted repeatedly by pro-Tibet demonstrators, and embarrass Beijing's leadership.

Hong Kong was a British colony until it was handed back to China in 1997. Although it is part of China now, the city is supposed to enjoy a wide degree of autonomy under a "one country, two systems" formula.

Hong Kongers enjoy civil liberties - like freedom of speech and the right to protest - that people in the rest of China do not. But the city's government has been known to restrict these freedoms during sensitive times.

On Thursday, Associated Press Television News filmed Farrow as she arrived in Hong Kong on a flight from New York. After she stepped up to the immigration desk to have her passport stamped, an officer talked to her briefly. Farrow was then escorted away by immigration officers.

After about a half hour, Farrow and an activist traveling with her, Jill Savitt, were allowed to pick up their luggage and enter the territory.

In an interview later Thursday, Farrow told The Associated Press she hoped to light a symbolic torch honoring the victims of fighting in Darfur - but away from the Olympic torch relay.

She said the immigration officials treated her politely and did not search her luggage, but warned her to not to disrupt law and order.

The torch's arrival in Hong Kong on Wednesday marks its return to Chinese soil.

Farrow has been vocal about world response to the crisis in Darfur, a region in Sudan where more than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been forced from their homes amid four years of fighting between local rebels and government-allied janjaweed militias.

She has been particularly critical of China, one of Sudan's biggest trading partners. Beijing buys oil from the African nation and sells it weapons. Activists want Beijing to use its influence to pressure Sudan to stop the violence.

Farrow said China could easily act on Darfur, given its strong business ties to Sudan.

"China has a unique business relationship with Khartoum that the United Nations and no nation of the world has," she said.

Farrow said Darfur was an easier issue to lobby China on than Tibet, although she said she sympathized with the Tibetan cause.

"Darfur is what we call the low-hanging fruit. It's easy picking. For the Tibetans, it's more difficult, given China's view of Tibet and the many years that China has held this view," Farrow said.

Meanwhile, a leading human rights group urged Nepal's government on Thursday to cancel orders for security forces on Mount Everest to shoot if necessary to stop protests during China's Olympic torch relay up the world's highest mountain.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said it had written to Nepal's prime minister asking him "to immediately rescind these orders." There was no comment Thursday from the prime minister's office.

The relay up Everest will take place on the Chinese side of the mountain. But Nepal's government, under pressure from Beijing, has posted soldiers on its side and banned climbing near the summit from Thursday through May 10.

Nepalese officials have said the soldiers and police have orders to stop protests on the mountain using whatever means necessary, although the use of deadly force is authorized only as a last resort.

Torch Archeology: How the Nazis handled the Torch 1936: The Cadre needs to consult the book as to how 1936 ended for the hosts. Oh.

History does not repeat itself. It rewrites.

Olympic Games
Torch-Relay

1936 Berlin


The Olympic Fire
The most significant and striking of the ceremonial aspects connected with the Olympic Games is the Olympic Fire. Ignited during the opening ceremony, it burns day and night at the Olympic Stadium and other scenes of competition during the period of the Games. Only when the Olympic Flag is lowered at the end of the closing ceremony is the Fire extinguished. At the Olympic Games of 1928 Amsterdam and at the Los Angeles Festival in 1932 the Olympic Fire burned at the top of a pillar extending above the Stadium. The Americans utlized natural gas as fuel, this being obtained from wells in the immediate vicinity of the centres of competition.

1928
The Olympic flame is first used during the modern era. The flame is kindled in Amsterdam, Netherlands and burns at the entrance of the main stadium throughout the duration of the Games of the IXth Olympiad.

1932
The Flame is kindled in Los Angeles and burns atop the Coliseum throughout the Games. This is the last time that an Olympic flame is kindled at the site on the Games.

1934
The IOC ratifies a flame relay from Olympia, Greece, site of the ancient Games, to the site of the fost city.





Torch: Lenght: 27 cm
Weight: 450 gr
Torch-replica from 1972 !!!
Torches total: 3,840
Design by: Walter Lemcke, Peter Wolf
Manufacturer: Friedrich Krupp AG
Date of the torch relay:
20. July - 1. August 1936
Numbers of runners: 3.331
Distance total: 3.187 km
Name of last runner: Fritz Schilgen



The Torch Relay Run from Olympia to Berlin
Through the organization of the Olympic Torch Relay Run the Eleventh Olympic Games were introduced in a manner which in its impressiveness and significance could scarcely have been surpassed. For the first time in the history of the modern Games the Olympic Fire was ignited with a flame borne directly from the sanctuary of the ancient Festival. At its meeting in May, 1934 in Athens, the International Olympic Committee approved the proposal of the Secretary-General of the Organizing Committee to have this flame carried by relay runners from Olympia to Berlin. The National Olympic Committee of Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Germany - the seven countries through which the flame would be carried - were in complete favour of this projekt and gladly cooperated in preparing for it.



The entire course was dividet into stretches of 1,000 metres, and each of these was covered by a runner, who then passed the Olympic Fire to his successor. The Organizing Committee estimated that an average time of 5 minutes would be required for each 1,000 metres, and the National Olympic Commttees of the fifferent countries were authorized to make special provisions such as increasing the stretches in thinly populated sections or allowing more times for traversing difficult districts.



None of the torches on the market at that time answered the requirements. Although a new torch would be ignited by each runner, the fact had to be taken into consideration that in case of an emergency a runner might be required to carry the same torch over a double stretch. It was therefore necessary to divise torches which would burn 10 minutes and which would not be affected by heat, rain, storms or falls. A magnesium torch was created which contained two fuses so that even should the burning part fall from the torch, the fuses would continue to glow and re-ignite it. The torches were encased in a reinforced covering in order to give them the required durability. The length of the torch including a cone-formed grip was 27.7 inches, its diameter 1.15 inches and its weight 1.5 pounds. The top of the torch consisted of a special inflammable substance so that it could be rapidly ignited when the flame was transferred from runner to runner.




The Organizing Committee presented a specially designed holder to each participant as a souvenir of the Torch Relay Run, this being designed by the sculptor who created the Olympic Bell, Herr Lemcke. The route over which the Olympic Fire was carried from Olympia to Berlin was engraved on the grip of the holder, and the Krupp Firm in Essen generously contributed a sufficient number of these in polished, stainless steel. The words, "In gratitude to the bearer," were also engraved on the holder.
Its entire length was 10.4 inches and its weight 1 pound. The torches, which contained a wooden grip at the lower end, could be fitted firmly into these holders. The plate at the tip of the holder protected the runner from flames which might be whipped by the wind. Holders and a special certificate for each runner and organizing manager were despatched to the National Olympic Committee in March, 1936.



A special commemoration diploma was designed for the participants in the Olympic torch relay run from Olympia to Berlin, this being created by the Berlin painter and graphic artist, Hönig. His design revealed the fire altar and Olympic rings in yellow-brown tones with the eagle as a background and the Olympic Bell in colourless embossing. Each certificate contained the facsimile signature of the President of the Organizing Committee and was inscribed with the name of the participant. The relationship between this torch relay run of the modern Olympic Games and the ancient festival was expressed in the brochures published in connection with this event, these being designed in an especially artistic manner. The reproduction of a Hellenic relief from the Palazzo Colonna in Rome was utilized for the cover, this having been generously permitted by the Prince of Colonna. The relief, which depicts two Erotes as torch bearers, was used by the creator of the Olympic Bell, Walter E. Lemcke, as the basis of his design.

(Source document: Official Report 1936, Vol. 1, page 126, 512)





1940 Tokyo
12 th Olympiad, the games did not take place

1944 London
13 th Olympiad, the games did not take place






Olympic Torch Relay:

1936 Berlin 1940 cancelled 1944 cancelled 1948 London 1952 Helsinki 1956 Melbourne 1956 Stockholm
1960 Rome 1964 Tokyo 1968 Mexico City 1972 Munich 1976 Montreal 1980 Moscow 1984 Los Angeles
1988 Seoul 1992 Barcelona 1996 Atlanta 2000 Sydney 2004 Athens 2008 Beijing 2012 London

Christina Chan vs. the Cadre. Chan 1, Cadre 0

Christina Chan into the history books as a woman who speaks for the century. The Cadre shakes. The Torch suggests that Ms. Chan go on TV.

Olympic Torch Relay Heads to Hong Kong

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
May 2, 2008 12:07 a.m.
HONG KONG -- Runners carried the Olympic flame through Hong Kong in a steady drizzle Friday, as a group of 30 flag-waving torch supporters shouted obscenities and jostled with a dozen police protecting a pro-Tibet supporter.

Police eventually had to stuff the pro-Tibet protester, Christina Chan, into a police van and drive her away from the streetside torch-watching venue. Ms. Chan said she didn't mind the hostile crowd, but she was upset about the police protection.

"What right do they have to take me away? I have a right to express my opinion," said the 21-year-old university student, who was carried into the van.

The eight-hour relay through canyons of skyscrapers was a big challenge for the leaders and police in the Chinese territory. The torch was finally back on Chinese soil, and Beijing wanted no repeat of the protests and chaos that disrupted the flame during its 20-nation overseas tour.

But trouble was likely to happen in Hong Kong, which enjoys civil liberties unrivaled in the rest of China. Hong Kong was a British colony until the city was handed back to China 11 years ago. Although Beijing makes all the big political decisions, Hong Kong was promised a wide degree of autonomy under a formula called "one country, two systems."

Street protests are routine in Hong Kong, and the media frequently criticize leaders, though press critics say self-censorship is common.

Before the relay began, Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang gave a speech that highlighted the city's freedoms.

"We are a world in a city, where different people with different beliefs and different views have thrived in a spirit of diversity, tolerance and respect," Mr. Tsang said.

Ms. Tsang said that as the torch works its way through China toward Beijing in the next three months, "it will continue to blaze a trail, a trail of unity and peace for all people and all nations."

Some torch spectators weren't peaceful, though the majority supported the flame and didn't cause trouble. A small group carried protest signs that said "Olympic flame for democracy" or "Build a democratic China."

University student Chan wrapped the Tibetan snow lion flag around her body and later began waving it. China's recent crackdown on Tibet has inspired many of the protests against the torch overseas.

Several onlookers heckled Ms. Chan, shouting "What kind of Chinese are you?" and "What a shame!"

Kitty Ho, 42, took the day off so she could watch the relay with her two daughters.

"As a citizen, I believe the athletes don't want these things (political issues) to be linked with the Olympics," she said.

In the past week, authorities used a blacklist to stop seven pro-Tibet and human rights activists at the airport. They were questioned and deported.

It is a tactic the authorities have used before for other events, especially those involving high-ranking Chinese leaders. They decline to explain the deportations, saying it's a private matter.

But actress Mia Farrow was allowed into Hong Kong Thursday to give a speech Friday critical of China's cozy ties with Sudan. However, Ms. Farrow said that immigration officials asked her for assurances that she wouldn't disrupt the torch relay. She said she wouldn't.

Some have criticized Hong Kong's list of 120 relay runners for not having enough athletes and being overloaded with political and business figures.

The first runner was Hong Kong's sole Olympic gold medalist, Lee Lai-shan, who won the women's sailboarding event at the 1996 Atlanta Games. But other runners include 21 tycoons and 13 politicians. Pansy Ho, a daughter of casino magnate Stanley Ho, will carry the flame, along with Victor Li Tzar-kuoi, son of Hong Kong's richest man, Li Ka-shing.

Write to Dow Jones Newswires editors at asknewswires@dowjones.com


______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Olympic torch relay begins in Hong Kong

The Associated PressPublished: May 2, 2008

HONG KONG: Runners carried the Olympic flame through Hong Kong in a steady drizzle Friday, as large groups of flag-waving torch supporters shouted insults at pro-Tibet and human rights protesters, forcing them to seek refuge in police vans.

One angry mob harrassed a small group of pro-democracy supporters, yelling at them, "Do you think this is Paris?" It was a reference to the French leg of the relay that was disrupted by protests.

Another protester holding a Tibetan flag was carried into a police van after she was threatened by 30 torch supporters who pushed and shoved a dozen officers protecting her.

Despite the streetside tensions, the early stage of the relay went smoothly on the rain-soaked roads. No one tried to block the flame as a chain of smiling athletes, movie stars and tycoons jogged around the city amid heavy security.

Hong Kong's eight-hour relay over highways, bridges and through canyons of skyscrapers was a big challenge for the leaders and police in the Chinese territory. The torch was finally back on Chinese soil, and Beijing wanted no repeat of the protests and chaos that disrupted the flame during its 20-nation overseas tour.

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But trouble was likely in Hong Kong, which enjoys civil liberties unrivaled in the rest of China. Hong Kong was a British colony until the city was handed back to China 11 years ago. Although Beijing makes all the big political decisions, Hong Kong was promised a wide degree of autonomy under a formula called "one country, two systems."

Street protests are routine in Hong Kong, and the media frequently criticize leaders, though press critics say self-censorship is common.

In the past week, authorities used a blacklist to stop seven pro-Tibet and human rights activists at the airport. They were questioned and deported, in a tactic authorities typically use ahead of events involving high-ranking Chinese leaders. They decline to explain the deportations.

But actress Mia Farrow was allowed into Hong Kong Thursday to give a speech Friday critical of China's cozy ties with Sudan. Farrow said immigration officials asked her for assurances that she wouldn't disrupt the torch relay. She said she wouldn't.

Before the relay began, Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang gave a speech that highlighted the city's freedoms.

"We are a world in a city, where different people with different beliefs and different views have thrived in a spirit of diversity, tolerance and respect," Tsang said with the dazzling skyscrapers on Hong Kong Island as a backdrop.

Tsang said that as the torch works its way through China toward Beijing in the next three months, "it will continue to blaze a trail, a trail of unity and peace for all people and all nations."

The majority of torch spectators supported the flame and didn't cause trouble.

A small group carried protest signs that said "Olympic flame for democracy" and "Build a democratic China."

Another group of seven pro-democracy activists were overwhelmed by torch supporters, who drowned out their slogans with insults like "running dog," "traitor" and "get out!" The activists, holding a banner that said, "Return power to the people," were surrounded by 80 police and eventually ducked into a police vehicle for protection.

Many torch supporters were apparently from the mainland because they chanted slogans and hurled insults in Mandarin, not the local Cantonese dialect.

University student Christina Chan wrapped the Tibetan snow lion flag around her body and later began waving it. China's recent crackdown on Tibet has inspired many of the protests against the torch overseas.

Several onlookers heckled Chan, shouting "What kind of Chinese are you?" and "What a shame!"

Chan said, "Why can't we just respect each other and express our views."

As the crowd became more hostile, police put Chan in a police van against her will.

"What right do they have to take me away? I have a right to express my opinion," said the 21-year-old university student.

Kitty Ho, 42, took the day off so she could watch the relay with her two daughters.

"As a citizen, I believe the athletes don't want these things (political issues) to be linked with the Olympics," she said.

No comment needed. Cadre is deaf.

U.S. senator says Beijing has ordered U.S.-owned hotels in China to install Internet filters that can monitor international visitors who attend the Olympic games in August. Kansas Republican Senator Sam Brownback made his comments at a Capitol Hill news conference, at which he and other lawmakers urged President Bush to boycott the games opening ceremonies to protest China's human rights record. VOA's Deborah Tate reports.
Senator Brownback says he learned of the Chinese government order from memos received by at least two U.S. hotels. He refused to identify the hotels, but said the information came from reliable and confidential sources.

"This is wrong, it is against international conventions," he said. "It is certainly against the Olympic spirit. The Chinese government should not do that, and should remove that request and that order."

Brownback called China the great enabler in the world of human rights abuses.

He spoke at a news conference just outside the U.S. Capitol building, where he and other lawmakers and human rights advocates called on the United States to boycott the start of the games to protest China's human rights record.

"President Bush and no one else in this government should be there for those opening ceremonies," said Congressman Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican.

Congresswoman Diane Watson, a California Democrat, urged Beijing to improve its human rights record ahead of the games.

"China must change the way it does business at home and abroad," she said.

Representatives from a number of human rights groups cited China's crackdown on recent unrest in Tibet and its deportation of North Korean refugees, who face stiff punishment or execution for fleeing the North.

"The claim made by the Chinese government that North Koreans do not experience persecution if they return to North Korea does not pass any minimal truth test," said Richard Land, vice chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. "North Korean refugees need protection and China must give it to them, and we must insist upon it."

More than a dozen former North Korean refugees who escaped to China and suffered beatings and imprisonment by Chinese authorities also attended the event.

At the White House, spokesman Tony Fratto acknowledged the sentiments of the rights groups and lawmakers, but would not say whether President Bush would avoid the opening ceremonies.

"We know they have strong feelings," he said. "Lots of U.S. officials and others have strong feelings. I do not have anything to add in terms of the president's schedule. He will go to China, but I have nothing on the schedule."

Opening ceremonies are scheduled for August 8.

The stampy-footy Nation discovers the Ugly Cadre: Torch wrecks the love affair with ChiComs: Nation puzzled.

This not irony. Just the facts. Yesterday's freedom fighter is today's imperial running dog.

01.05.2008
The Olympics Have Taken China Down A Notch


At the start of the Tibet uprising, I mused that the Olympics--far from being a Chinese propaganda coup, as envisioned by Beijing--might actually wreck China's image abroad.

Now, John Pomfret at PostGlobal thinks this is indeed happening (it's worth reading the piece):

Move over ugly American, make room for the ugly Chinese.

...

For the past decade, China's "soft power" has helped fuel Beijing's rise by attempting to assuage fears of an expansionist China. ... But now across the globe China is dropping in the polls.

It's true. Recent months have seen China's global standing plummet like Bill Clinton in South Carolina. What's more, this has been good for the United States.

I intitially decried China's crackdown in Tibet for moral reasons, but also because it looked like a full-throated assault from the press would reduce China's standing at a crucial time, rehabilitating America in relative terms after a decade of global PR disasters. (Not that China is our enemy, but it's certainly nice to have some leverage over a rising great power.)

After all, China has been getting a free ride for the past decade--playing the anti-America that doesn't intervene in other countries' affairs. This made them popular, in part, because we spent that decade more or less giving interventionism a bad name.

Now, however, they're playing defense--the atmospherics of the Tibet-Olympics affair (with Mugabe and Darfur on the side) have turned their sovereigntism from a selling point into a public-relations liability.

On top of that, their hack apparatchik instincts have begun to show under pressure. What was once smooth diplomatic composure during the good times has given way to reflexive, KCNA-style harangues (China's Foreign Ministry recently called Nancy Pelosi "disgusting"!).

And--it's terrible to say, but true--folks protesting U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan have had to make space in their calendars to defend the Dalai Lama. Whether or not our policies are correct, it's nice to see someone else condemned for a change.

Now that the torch is safely in Beijing, of course, China might regain some of its composure. But it is clear that China has fumbled badly in Round 1--and the political outcome of these Games will reverberate well into the coming decade.

--Barron YoungSmith

Posted: Thursday, May 01, 2008 6:01 PM with 7 comment(s)

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maxblum13 said:
Bay Area people: UCLA Darfur Action Committee is leading a rally in front of VISA headquarters in San Francisco at 4:00 on May 16th, demanding that they take a stronger stance on human rights and use their position as an Olympic sponsor as leverage on China. We'd love to see you out there.

May 1, 2008 6:43 PM
LISAH said:
So...China's sure not being nice, but it's also doing no more than behaving like a big strong and getting stronger country behaves. There don't seem to be a lot of nice friendly countries coming to Darfur's aid. Tibet left alone is more than a bit like a backward feudal society -- is it really worse off under Chinese overlordship/suzerainity/whatever? Kinda hard to tell.

More than a bit of hypocrisy here, to say nothing of the silliness of setting precedents for future such actions that can and will be taken against just about any country any silly "humanitarian" bunch gets upset about.

It's the real world. Get over it.

May 1, 2008 7:43 PM
LISAH said:
...and if you really wanna get upset at China. how about condemning the air quality in Beijing...???

May 1, 2008 8:02 PM
maxblum13 said:
LISAH, its precisely those sentiments that have led us to conclude that our next protest target will be our own country, which does nothing but issue press statements and won't do anything about genocide because of our intelligence relationship with Sudan. BTW, how do u live with yourself if you consider genocide simply the real world? i would jump off a cliff before I accepted the status quo as inevitable. If you're really that jaded, do all of us a favor and stop involving yourself in politics. And I might add, what right do you have to tell the thousands of Tibetans who say that Tibet is worse off under Chinese rule that they are wrong? If you hold activists to the standard that they have to take up arms against the Sudanese government without any military support in order to avoid being hypocritical than you are simply being ridiculous.

May 1, 2008 8:07 PM
bdgreen said:
Yes, we Americans looked much better posed arms-akimbo against the threat of the Evil Russians and Red Chinese, didn't we? Back in those days, we got away scot-free with our bloody drugs-for-guns-for-terrorists adventures in Central America. And let's not forget that we may have gone to Iraq to fight Al-Qaeda-who-wasn't-there, but we invented the real Al Qaeda in Afghanistan!

Let's see... yep... a few more years of silently allowing authoritarianism to incubate in Russia, and a few more years of shoveling dollars into the Chinese furnace, and we'll have our good old bad guys back again! Hooray! I'm tired of pretending to be scared of Al Qaeda, but ANYONE can be scared of nuclear Armageddon.

May 1, 2008 8:11 PM

Huffpo follows the Torch. Mention of North Korea pacificism. The Torch watched North Korea closely.

Olympic Torch Run: Not a 'Bright and Colorful Day' in Both Koreas

Posted April 28, 2008 | 01:23 PM (EST) Compared to the chaos that gripped Seoul over the weekend as the cursed Olympic torch came to town, South Korea's neighbor to the north executed its torch ceremonies without a hitch -- no shouting, no fighting and surely no pro-Tibet protest. In North Korea, where political dissent is as rare as an Internet connection, the world got a taste of how China had envisioned the torch procession at all of its stops -- quiet, calm and Communist.

It's important to start in Seoul, where on Sunday a North Korean defector tried to disrupt the torch run by, well, setting himself on fire. While the Tibet freedom movement has inspired torch run opponents in Paris, London and France, in Seoul the Tibet issue took a back seat to protest over the plight of North Korean refugees in China. Signs and banners lining the torch relay in Seoul depicted the horrific treatment of North Korean defectors in China, who are routinely hunted down, arrested and returned to North Korea by Chinese authorities. According to an Associated Press story Monday, Son Jong Hoon, the North Korean who attempted to immolate himself, had spearheaded a failed public campaign to save his brother, one of the North Korean defectors, from execution when he was found and returned to North Korea.

Distinct from those perpetrating violence on the other legs of the torch relay, in Seoul, it was pro-China, pro-Olympics protesters who triggered the majority of the demonstrations. According to the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo, over 6,500 Chinese residents in Seoul, mostly students, swarmed Seoul's Olympic park determined to drown out the anti-China sentiment that has marred the torch run thus far. Chinese loyalists wrapped in China's flag threw objects at anti-Olympics demonstrators, inadvertently striking a journalist in the head with a rock. And interestingly, the pro-China soldiers in Seoul were armed by none other than the Chinese government. From a Chosun report Monday:

Chinese students studying here seemed well organized in their efforts to guard the Olympic torch. Messages calling for concerted action began to appear in an online club of Chinese students in Korea two weeks ago. A 22-year-old Chinese student who said he studies at Korea University of Technology and Education said 30,000 Beijing Olympic T-shirts and 30,000 Chinese flags were sent to the demonstrators from China the day before the relay. Kim Seong-yong, 71, from Seoul, who witnessed the event, said he had "never seen so many Chinese flags waving in central Seoul, not even during the Korean War."
It seems China is now not merely keeping its torch runners safe, it's now actively supporting pro-China mobs during the relay.

For those visual learners, this is what the torch relay looked like in Seoul this weekend:



And here is what it looked liked in Pyongyang, North Korea. The only word that comes to mind is "swell."



When the Chinese government was dreaming up the 2008 torch relay, it was Monday's stop in North Korea they saw in their mind's eye: Beautiful women in traditional hanboks, waving flags, smiling, singing, extolling China, North Korea and their Communist camaraderie. Olympic organizers were saying on Monday, "Why couldn't the Parisians, Londoners and San Franciscans be more like the North Koreans?"

A headline on a story praising the torch festivities in Xinhua, China's state-run news agency, read "'Lucky Cloud' floats over Pyongyang." The only "lucky cloud" floating over Pyongyang would be one carrying a wireless Internet signal.

China's ambassador to North Korea exclaimed Monday, "It's a bright and colorful day for everybody in the city. The flame brings friendship, best wishes and passion to Pyongyang." Anything can bring friendship, best wishes and passion to Pyongyang if Kim Jong Il says it does.

The polar experiences of the torch relay in Seoul and Pyongyang symbolize the utter disparity between North and South Korea and how they each relate to China. The South remains torn between the democracy, freedoms and value system of the West and its geography, nestled between North Korea and Communist China. Meanwhile, North Korea is as beholden as ever to China, it's Communist big brother, a nation to whom it looks for economic, political and moral leadership.

While the Pyongyang leg of the torch relay may represent a visual paradigm for the Chinese, for the rest of the world, it should serve to remind us of the oppression that still prevails in North Korea.

Seoul scorns Cadre. After the Cadre over calculated in Seoul. Thugs not the soft power the Cadre hoped.

A small matter of no trust between the free people of dovish South Korea and the Cadre. Note the small delay in protesting four days after the fact. But still, Cadre sponsored thuggery is not friendly. And these useful "students" must now wait in longer lines. The Torch did its work. Where ever it goes, the Cadre frowns and Tibet is a fair wind.

S Korea tightens visas for Chinese
By Song Jung-a in Seoul
Published: May 1 2008 03:31 | Last updated: May 1 2008 03:31
South Korea said on Wednesday that it planned to tighten visa requirements for Chinese students seeking to enter the country after the outburst of violence by some Chinese citizens during the Olympic torch relay at the weekend.

Seoul has also strongly protested to China about the incident during which local protesters criticising Beijing’s hosting of the 2008 Olympics were attacked by Chinese students. Police are still investigating but those students found to be involved now face eviction from South Korea, its foreign ministry said.


Seoul’s actions came amid growing public anger at what was seen as the first expression of Chinese nationalism in South Korea.

There are fears the measures could cause a rift between the two neighbours despite diplomatic efforts to minimise any long-term damage from the incident. South Korea and China have strengthened economic relations in recent years with China becoming South Korea’s biggest trading partner and many big Korean companies investing heavily in China.

Lee Yong-joon, the Korean deputy foreign minister, in Beijing to discuss details of the planned summit between the countries’ leaders next month, expressed regret about the incident in a meeting with Liu Hongcai, vice-minister of the international department of China’s Communist party.

Thousands of Chinese students took to the streets of Seoul on Sunday to cheer the Olympic torch relay but that led to a confrontation with locals demonstrating against China’s human rights practice, especially over its treatment of North Korean defectors.

While most protesters in other parts of the world focused on Beijing’s crackdown on Tibet, South Korean protesters used the occasion to demand China to stop repatriating North Korean defectors to Pyongyang, where they face heavy punishment.

The furore was fuelled further by the lack of official apology from Beijing. A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman simply said the Chinese students meant well, and “may have been a little over-excited.”

Experts cautioned the incident could spark anti-Chinese sentiment in Seoul if not handled properly. “This could be a turning point in Koreans' perception toward China,” said Han Suk-hee, professor at Yonsei University. “I think public sentiment could turn from pro-China to anti-China due to this incident."

Olympic torch receives turbulent reception in Seoul
Last Updated: Sunday, April 27, 2008 | 7:38 PM ET Comments25Recommend24
CBC News
A North Korean defector tried to set himself on fire in protest as the Olympic torch relay made its way through the South Korean capital, Seoul, on Sunday.Chinese students are blocked by police officers as they try to march to anti-Beijing Olympic protesters near the Olympic Park in Seoul, South Korea, on Sunday. (Lee Jin-man/Associated Press)

Police arrested 45-year-old Son Jong Hoon, who had led an unsuccessful public campaign to save his brother from execution in the North, where he was accused of spying after the two met secretly in China.

About 8,000 police officers were deployed to protect the torch along its run through the streets of Seoul.

Many of the protesters were trying to raise awareness of China's treatment of North Korean refugees.

Pro-China supporters were also on hand, and clashed with those demonstrating against Beijing's policies. No injuries or arrests were reported following those skirmishes.

Hundreds of China supporters waving the Chinese flag greeted the torch, throwing rocks at anti-Beijing demonstrators.

Police ran alongside the flame, and rode horses and bicycles on the relay across the city, which hosted the 1988 Olympics.

Demonstrators supporting Tibetan culture in China also held a peaceful march in Seoul.

Activists have previously interrupted Olympic torch runs in London and Paris to protest China's policies in Tibet.

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P_Taco wrote:
Posted 2008/04/28
at 9:36 PM ETI'd just like to reiterate what the last two Korean readers posted. South Koreans are very pissed off about what transpired yesterday. Pro-China supporters in Seoul behaved terribly! There were multiple incidents of violent attacks on human rights demonstrators, not mere 'scuffling'. The ignorant thuggery of these foaming at the mouth neo-Red Guards would of made Mao very proud, indeed.

What's interesting is that the protests in London and Paris have been painted by Chinese state controlled media as 'violent'. Was anyone hurt during those two legs? Have we seen human rights activists throwing rocks and beating people with sticks along the many stops of the 'Journey of Harmony'? No. It's the so-called defenders of the Olympic Spirit that have resorted to violence.

South Koreans now have a very good reason to boycott these games.
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FrenchKorean wrote:
Posted 2008/04/28
at 11:25 AM ETThis is what happened on SUNDAY in SEOUL. The CHINESE were throwing rocks at KOREANS and TIBETAN people.

People should read their news with a balanced point of view.......and not always believe what they read on CBC.

Someone was asking for EVIDENCE of what really happened......just go see for yourself on this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NSGqAa0Gl4

Now.....you'll understand what really happened!!! I hope the CBC will do its work correctly and stop bowing to the CHINESE to prevent their website from being BANNED in China. After all, Canada is a democracy from what I know???
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JasonStratus wrote:
Posted 2008/04/28
at 5:01 AM ETHa... I can't understand CBS - the best canadian news site which I know - says like that. This acident is more serious than that. I am real korean, I live in Korea too. so I can't understand global news is different by korean news!!
Please!!! This isn't just 'parade'. How can they throw rock to korean? in Korea? I can't understand them. and most Korean really mad what they do.
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AHenryT wrote:
Posted 2008/04/28
at 3:49 AM ETTo all those criticizing the west getting involved with China's affairs:

Deal with it. You're becoming a mature country. Act like it. Do we criticize the US for its issues? Of course! You're becoming a superpower, expect it.

And for god sakes, if you're going to spout your pro-communism, pro-Chinese government propaganda on this site, at least learn the english language!
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Fly13! wrote:
Posted 2008/04/27
at 11:58 PM ETIt's great to see all the pro-China and anti-CBC comments on this site.

Thanks Comrades. You know if you keep shouting long enough that China doesn't commit human-rights abuses and that CBC is 100% at fault for all the negative coverage, maybe someone will believe you.

CBC reports on news. Any dimwit over the age of 10 is going to realize that any news media has their own slant on every topic. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest the it is likely the news services in China may not be quite as open about what's happening as they could be either. That is why you need to read and watch the news from many different sources. Only then, by analyzing multiple sources (and not only North American sources) can you get a general idea of what's actually happening.

Take a deep breath and give some thought to your comments before continuing with this whine-fest. China isn't 100% bad and neither is the CBC.
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